Chinese Male Homosexualities: Memba, Tongzhi and Golden Boy

321 Pages·2010·2.869 MB·English

by  Travis S. K. Kong

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Chinese Male Homosexualities
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3111 This book presents a groundbreaking exploration of masculinities and homo -
4 sexualities among Chinese gay men. It provides a sociological account of
5 masculinity, desire, sexuality, identity and citizenship in contemporary
6 Chinese societies, and within the constellation of global culture.
7 Kong reports the results of an extensive ethnographic study of contemporary
8 Chinese gay men in a wide range of different locations including mainland
9 China, Hong Kong and the Chinese overseas community in London, showing
20111 how Chinese gay men live their everyday lives. Relating Chinese male homo -
1 sexuality to the extensive social and cultural theories on gender, sexuality and
2 the body, post-colonialism and globalization, the book examines the idea of
3 queer space and numerous ‘queer flows’ – of capital, bodies, ideas, images
4 and commodities – around the world.
5 The book concludes that different gay male identities – such as the
6 conspicuously consuming membain Hong Kong, the urban tongzhi, the ‘money
7 boy’ in China and the feminized ‘golden boy’ in London – emerge in different
8 locations, and are all caught up in the transnational flow of queer cultures that
9 are at once local and global.
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1 Travis S. K. Kong is Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of
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‘Chinese Male Homosexualitiesis an original study of what happens when
the translation of global gayness “fails”. What we get are politically
astute insights developed in dialogue between Kong and the Chinese gay
men he came to know . . . in Hong Kong, London and mainland China.
Resolutely anti-essentialist about both gay identity and Chinese culture,
Kong convincingly argues that contradictions lie at the heart of queer
struggles for rights, community and intimacy . . . a must read.’
– Professor Lisa Rofel, University of California,
Santa Cruz, US
‘There is no book out there like this one. Navigating between European
ideals of liberal recognition and Confucian notions of filial obligation,
between neoliberal markets and residues of (post)colonial regulation,
between cosmopolitan consumerism and alternative socialist imaginaries,
Kong’s ethnography of Chinese gay men in Hong Kong, London, and the
PRC is exhilarating and inimitable.’
– Professor David L. Eng, University of
Pennsylvania, US
‘Chinese Male Homosexualities is that rare and joyous thing: an intel -
lectually substantial book that is also a good read. Individual interviewees’
stories bring the intellectual arguments to life.’
– Professor Chris Berry, Goldsmiths College,
University of London, UK
‘This is a stunning empirical study of sexual worlds that are rarely
associated with China, and a highly creative synthesis of the sociology of
sexuality and queer theory. A powerful book that will be of interest to
China scholars as well as sexuality researchers.’
– Arlene Stein, Rutgers University, US
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History, transition and crossborder Chinese Male Homosexualities
interaction into the 21st century Memba, tongzhi and golden boy
Edited by Colin Mackerras and Travis S.K. Kong
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Industrialisation and Rural Livelihoods
Intellectual Property Rights in China in China
Politics of piracy, trade and protection Agricultural processing in Sichuan
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1111 Chinese Male
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Homosexualities
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First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Travis S. K. Kong
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kong, Travis.
Chinese male homosexualities: memba, tongzhi and golden boy/
Travis S.K. Kong.
p. cm. –(Routledge contemporary China series ; 52)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
(ebook) 1. Gay men –China –Identity.  2. Homosexuality –China.
I. Title.
HQ76.2.C5K66 2010
306.76(cid:2)620951 –dc222009051976
ISBN 0-203-84920-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN: 978-0-415-45189-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-84920-0 (ebk)
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Contents
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3111 List of illustrations xi
4 Foreword by Ken Plummer xiii
5 Acknowledgements xx
6 List of abbreviations xxiii
7 Note on romanization xxiv
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Introduction: bodies that travel 1
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1 Study of Chinese male homosexualities 16
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4 PART I
5 Hong Kong 41
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2 Queers are ready!?: sexual citizenship and the tongzhi movement 47
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3 Memba only: consumer citizenship and cult gay masculinity 73
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4 All about family: intimate citizenship and family biopolitics 94
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4 PART II
35 London 121
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1 China 143
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3 6 Newnew China, newnew tongzhi 145
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